Buffer



J. NACINOVICH April 12, 1960 BUFFER Filed May 5, 1958 lilrv l INVENTOR.

JOHN NACINOVI CH 224 zwf ATTORNEY United States; Patent BUFFER John Nacinovich, Astoria, NY. Application May 5, 1958, Serial No. 733,051

6 Claims. (Cl. 45-137) This invention relates to furniture buffers or bumpers.

Various buffer or bumper constructions have been proposed for use with furniture to prevent the scratching or marring of baseboards, walls and the like, as well as avoiding damage of the furniture itself. However, such known constructions are of a complicated character, particularly as concerns the means for attaching the buffer or bumper to the article of furniture.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a furniture buffer of simplified construction having improved means for attaching the same to furniture.

Another object of this invention is to provide a furniture buffer having adjustable attaching means which may be easily and quickly manipulated to mount the buffer on furniture legs or other portions of varying cross section.

A furtherobject of this invention is to provide an improved furniture buifer which comprises a minimum number of parts; is economical to manufacture, yet is well adapted to meet the conditions of use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a top plan view of a furniture bumper embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of an attaching strap therefor;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the bumper;

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are views showing the bumper attached to furniture elements of different cross section; and

Fig. 7 is a partial side elevational view of a bumper showing a modified form ofv abutment end.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 10 designates a buffer or bumper embodying the invention. The same comprises essentially an elongated member 11 and attaching means 12 adapted to be adjustably mounted on one end of member 11.

Member 11 is formed of a semiresilient material such as natural or synthetic rubber, in solid or sponge form. The member may be of any suitable length, such length governing the spacing properties of the device. The material of the member 11 should be in a state of Vulcan ization or polymerization such that it will not flex materially from its longitudinal axis, yet will exhibit a degree of resilience at the outer abutment end 13 thereof upon contact with a wall or other stationary surface.

Member 11 may be of square or rectangular cross section and is provided at the attachment end thereof with means for engaging attaching means 12. To this end, headed rivet-like members 14 are mounted on opposite sides of member 11 adjacent end 15 thereof. To facilitate the mounting of beaded members 14, a tubular member 16 may be embedded transversely of member 11 and members 14 force fitted into the opposite ends thereof with a small portion of the shanks of members 14 projecting outwardly of the sides of member 11.

Member 11 may be cut at end-15 thereof to form a semicircular groove 17 leaving thinned edge portions 18 at the opposite ends of the groove. The cutout portion 19 removed from groove 17, may be retained for the purpose hereinafter described.

Attaching means 12 takes the form of a strap of resilient material such as rubber or the like. The same is of rectangular shape and formed with a series of longitudinally spaced openings 20. The strap 12 is adapted to be attached at opposite end portions thereof, to member 11, the headed members 14 engaged in selected openings 20 of the strap, thus forming a looped portion of adjustable length for attaching buffer 10 to a selected piece of furniture. Thus, as shown'in Fig. l, a chair leg 21 of circular cross section has attached thereto member 11, the grooved portion 17 thereof fitting around said leg and strap 12 is adjusted in relation to headed members 14 to insure a tight engagement of the buffer and the chair leg.

If the chair leg or other piece of furniture has a planar surface, cutout portion 19 is inserted in groove 17 to provide a planar surface at end 15 of member 11, for suitable engagement with said chair leg, as shown in Fig. 6. Here. also, strap 12 is adjusted to provide proper mounting of the buffer on the chair leg.

Since the edge portions 18 at groove 17 of member 11 are somewhat flexible because of their reduced thickness, buffer 10 may be mounted on rounded or curved furniture members having transverse dimensions which are somewhat larger or smaller than the diameter of groove 17. In the former case, edge portions 13 will be outwardly displaced, as shown in Fig. 4, and in the latter case, edge portions 18 will be displaced toward each other.

In either case, strap 12 is effective to hold the buffer member 10 in proper outwardly projecting position with the outer abutment end 13 available for impingement on a wall surface or the like, to prevent marring or scratching of such surface as well as injury to the furniture.

Strap 12 is of suitable thickness to insure a firm engagement thereof with member 11. The length of said strap should be sufficient to encircle various items of furniture which are to be protected.

Member 11 may be provided with an oblique abutment end 13a, as shown in Fig. 7, thus bringing such abutment end into proper engagement with a wall surface or the like, when the furniture leg is inclined with respect to the vertical.

It is understood that the buffer 19 may be applied to furniture legs and the like having cross sections which may be other than circular or rectangular; the edge portions 18 being sufiiciently flexible to accommodate themselves to such cross sections.

As various changes might be made in the embodiments of the invention without departing from the spirit thereof, it is understood that all matter herein shown or described shall be deemed illustrative and not by way of limitation except as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent:

1. A furniture buffer for detachable attachment to a furniture member comprising an elongated solid block member of semi-resilient material, elastic flexible strap means, and means on one end of said member for detachably engaging opposite end portions of said strap means to provide a loop portion in said strap means projecting from said one end of the member for encircling said furniture member and holding said one end of the buffer member in abutting relation to said furniture member.

2. A buffer as in claim 1 wherein said strap means in cludes means longitudinally spaced at one end thereof for selective engagement with the engaging means on said buffer member to adjust the length of said loop.

3. A buffer as in claim 2 wherein said second mentioned means comprises a projection on the side of said buffer member and said strap means is formed with a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings for receiving said projection.

4. A furniture buffer for attachment to a furniture member comprising an elongated bar of semi-resilient rubber, a rubber strap formed with longitudinally spaced openings, and projections extending from opposite sides of said bar adjacent one end thereof for detachable engagement in selected openings in opposite end portions of said strap to form a loop of adjustable extent therein projecting outwardly from said one end of the bar for encircling said furniture member and holding said buffer member in outwardly projecting relation to said furniture member.

5. A buffer as in claim 4 wherein said one end of the bar is formed with a groove in opposed relation to the strap loop for receiving an opposed portion of said furniture member.

6. A buffer as in claim 5 and further including an insert for said groove, said insert having a planar surface substantially registering with the end surface portions on either side of the groove in the said one end of the bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 896,730 Loset Aug. 25, 1908 1,158,350 White Oct. 26, 1915 1,412,241 Hall Apr. 11, 1922 1,440,783 Kiley Jan. 2, 1923 2,422,715 Blake June 24, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 19,924 Great Britain Oct. 23, 1895 

